Tag: sustainable

I am a girl who is in love with Hemp products and I want to tell you why! First off, hemp is great for our environment. It is naturally resistant to insects and pests. So, it requires no harmful chemicals that pollute our soil and groundwater to grow. Hemp actually pulls pollution out of the soil!!!

Hemp is so diverse that there are literally thousands of uses for this eco-friendly plant. I am so looking forward to the days when America gets on board with Hemp Production that can produce sorely needed biodegradable packaging to replace plastics that are leaching toxic chemical into our land and water.

When I was running for State Rep, I advocated for the Industrial Hemp production here in Minnesota. I wanted to help bring awareness of the benefits that hemp has to offer and the employment opportunities it could bring! An Industrial Hemp Manufacturing Facility could put a whole lot of people to work here in central Minnesota. Farmers could grow a crop that does not pollute the water and a local manufacturing facility would support all sorts of workers from office personnel to drivers and machine operators. I hope one day I get to see this dream realized!

Did you know that the human body is equipped with cannabinoid receptors that allow us to process the medicinal uses of the hemp plant? But what about it being a drug to get you high, people ask. Even if you ate a whole Hemp plant, there wouldn’t be a mind-altering high. Yet Hemp is very medicinal in so many ways! Hemp is not marijuana. Hemp has been proven safe and effective for many uses. I have a friend who is a Hemp farmer and he suggests being sure you are using pure organic hemp products that have not been grown with pesticides. You do not want to ingest any of those!

Hemp products I have used that really work!

CBD – CBD comes in many forms, I have been using it in lotion, as it helps when my hands are aching from overuse. According to the Canabo Medical Clinic website; CBD drops that have been proven to have a positive effect on pain, seizures, anxiety and sleep issues.

Hemp oil – You can use in cooking, beauty products or skin care. I’m thinking Hemp oil will become the new coconut oil. Both be used effectively for multiple things.

Hemp seeds – Are full of nutrients that the body needs! Just add them to a salad or smoothie. They are full of protein at 9 grams per tablespoon, unsaturated fats, fiber, vitamins, and minerals that help our bodies function better. They are high in Omega-3 and that promotes heart health. They are also known to reduce inflammation throughout the body.

Hemp-based Shampoo and Conditioner – I recently tried a local Hemp artisans, beauty products out of curiosity. I must tell you that the one product I am over the moon about is the shampoo and conditioner. I have been having a problem losing my hair at an unsustainable rate. I was very concerned actually. By divine guidance, I was led to this hemp product that has slowed my hair loss by at least 75%. My scalp feels healthier and I am actually growing hair again! My head is thanking me for not subjecting it to all the added chemicals commercially manufactured products have! (This is my personal experience anyway.)

Hemp Fiber – This is one of my favorites! As an environmentally aware person, I am truly ecstatic about the prohibition of Hemp being reversed. Hemp fibers can be used to supplement and replace many of the uses and reasons we cut forests down for! Hemp fibers can be used for building materials, paper, textiles, paint/stain, biodegradable plastic, biofuel, food, animal feed and so much more!

I hope this blog has helped inform you a little more and made you more open to trying Hemp products! I am so excited about the extraordinary possibilities for the health of our planet and ourselves that Hemp has to offer.

I have lived in Minnesota my whole life. I have traveled some but not nearly as much as I like to yet. However, every time I leave home, I come back with a renewed appreciation for my State. Minnesota may be known as the land of 10,000 lakes but there are over 11,000.

I was lucky enough to be raised in the beauty of Northern Minnesota on the Iron Range. I then moved to a much more populated area of Coon Rapids (a suburb of Minneapolis) where I would graduate from High School. I have since settled in an area of Central Minnesota known for family farms and country living. I love the quiet country life that city of Princeton has to offer.

Throughout my lifetime, no matter where I have lived, there was always one common theme that happened in our short Minnesota summers. We were all headed to the lake or goin’ North for the weekend to enjoy what I now call our ‘Minnesota Way of life’.

It didn’t matter if you were well off or just making a living. Most people had a cabin to retreat or a family camp somewhere on a Minnesota lake “Up North”. I am a water baby to the point that my husband calls me the Queen of the Hydration Nation. He understands how much I appreciate water and especially water quality.

The Minnesota way of lake life that includes; clean drinking water, fishing, boating, camping, canoeing, hiking and swimming was (and still is) something that I truly enjoy! The beauty Minnesota offers is unmatched in any of the places I have been. We have four seasons which push us to enjoy each of them in different ways. Even when it is below zero temperatures, us hearty Minnesotan outdoor enthusiasts choose to go ice fishing on our lakes, or skiing and sledding.

I notice that most of our recreation revolves around the blessings of our most valued natural resource; our abundance of clean WATER.

I have learned to water ski, tube, fish, canoe, kayak and have made many happy memories that included our Minnesota way of life. Once I learned one fact about my beloved State though; I absolutely knew in my soul I must do something (anything) to protect the Minnesota that I know and love for future generations.

This fact is that; (according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency) over 40% of our water in Minnesota is too polluted to swim in or eat the fish out of. This is almost HALF of our 11,000 lakes! What? No fishing?!

When I learned that political leaders of Minnesota were considering and might allow toxic mining here in our most pure and precious areas of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and the watersheds of the Great Lake Superior. I thought “How can this be?!”

I could not believe that our “Leaders”, who are supposed to look out for the greater good of the people and the future prosperity of our state, would allow this. They should not be looking for what might make money for right now (or for a short amount of time) if this means poisoning our most precious resources. Our people and our water permanently.

These Sulfide-Ore Copper mines have a bad history of a 90% failure rate and leaving toxic pollution, so devastating, that the areas of contamination are doomed for over 500 years. That’s over six generations of your family that will not be able to enjoy the same beauty of Minnesota that we have grown to know and love.

When these mines fail, as history shows they likely will, Lake Superior would be toxic and unable to support recreational life and tourism as we know it or would the BWCA.

Even though leaders know that Lake Superior holds about 10% of the world’s fresh water. They still seem to want to allow a mine that will undoubtedly pollute it for foreign profit our native Minnesotans will never see. History shows that tax payers get left with the clean-up bill and the devastation of their water tables nearly every time. I believe true leaders always do what is right for the people they are paid to represent.

Therefore, I chose to change my life path drastically to run for the State House of Representatives. I believe I have been divinely guided to this opportunity to run because my intentions are pure. I wish to protect the Minnesota we know and love for ourselves and our future generations.

We must demand that our leaders do not sell us out for profit we will never see. I am just a Minnesota girl standing up to protect what I love.

We must demand that leaders start viewing our environmental protections as a public safety. Without a healthy environment there is not a healthy population. Scientist continually tell us we are on borrowed time (on this planet) if we continue to live in a way that we are.

Poisoning our own water resources for profit seems to be a poor moral decision in my book. We already know most of the State is already suffering from high nitrate levels in our waters, why would it seem like a good idea to risk the water that is still good and healthy?

To me, a true leader looks around, beyond their nose and sees that all over the Nation we are indeed in trouble when it comes to our water. Look around. Flint Michigan without water for years, Chicago now turning off water to public schools. Fracking for natural gas is poisoning water tables all over the place, Florida is seeing costal devastation from human activity.

We are seeing a great deal of drinking water pollution all over the Nation and we need to be proactive at protecting what we love and take for granted here in Minnesota, our water.

Now, like I said, this girl loves water, because we need it to sustain all of life. To me, a leader protects the necessities to live, because that’s their job.

I do like to keep my blogs light hearted and positive but sometimes life forces us to look at things that are not happy. I became interested in politics because of my concern for our environment, turns out they are intrinsically connected.

I am choosing to share what I know, in the only way I know how to do it. I am normally a happy person, but when you mess with my family or what I hold dear, my congeniality disappears, and I will do what I feel is right. Protecting what I love seems to be the right path for me.

I want to win this election, so I can stand up for our environment since the planet cannot talk for herself. I believe it is my purpose of why I was put here on earth. I am sure of it. What matters to me most is to protect our Minnesota way of life and the water I love.

Speaking up when I saw something was not right for the greater good, is what I feel I needed to do. Doing so got me where I am today. I believe Minnesota and the planet still needs more of us to do so.

When will ‘leaders’ start choosing what is right instead of what is good for business?

There is a moral responsibility here. I refuse to give in to the false narrative that says we must choose putting our environment at risk to make a living. I call BS. This is where my campaign slogan “Protect what you love” came from. We deserve better and so do our future generations.

Let us move forward to clean energy solutions as it seems imperative to sustain the Minnesota way of life we know and love.

I have a wide range of interests that keep me busy, my day job is rewarding and makes me feel purposeful, yet I still feel pushed by Spirit to do more. I have been writing books with my Adventure Sister Stacy with the hope and purpose of helping others grow, and learn, in ways that are helpful in everyday life. We would like to use our series of books to promote the importance of working together while encouraging our differences, in sisterhood, family, friendship, and in all areas of life while caring for each other and the planet.

We have been pursuing this goal for several years and we are smack dab in the middle of working hard for no ‘reward’ except the reward is that it feels right to our souls. It is the heartfelt passion and our will to help the greater good with our writing that keeps our project moving forward, one baby step after another. We are determined to make it happen.

I also have dreams of traveling the globe far and wide, gaining experiences of other places and cultures while writing about it on my hobby farm that will rescue farm animals, bees, chickens, cows, donkey, goats, you name it. I dream that this farm will be fully functioning while being surrounded by a magnificent permaculture food oasis for my family complete with a Walipini for winter gardening. You’re probably thinking “You’re nuts girl! Do you know how much work that is?!”

Yes, I do. I am aware of the insanity that drives me forward, it is my crazy creative life that keeps me dreaming these goals. I feel the pull to add in a little mix of corporate to my creative goals, I have been moved to explore the political world feeling the need to stand up to the injustices I see and now I am considering a run to represent my local district. Because why wouldn’t you add more work on top of the work you already have?!

During my spare time I refinish and repurpose old décor that can be brought to life and funkdified into something wonderful. I have a whole basement workshop full of half finished projects I would like to complete so I could sell them in a small boutique for extra travel money. Also, I create random pieces of art when called to do so. Did you see that?! Squirrel!

Is it possible to be a State Representative, Therapist, Author, Sanctuary Farmer, Permaculture enthusiast and Artist all at the same time? What keeps me holding on to these dreams while some of them have nothing to do with the other? Could I possibly find the time, money, and energy to pursue all of them? Would Spirit give me the desire to do all these things if it weren’t possible?

It would be possible to write and have a farm sanctuary that would be a dream come true. Yet like most people I still have a day job that pays the bills and we all know that’s just a little important if you like to eat. Like I said, I enjoy my ‘job’ it doesn’t feel like work because I find it rewarding. Yet I still aspire to do so much more, to live more sustainably in a way that supports my inner truth. Would I still be able to give my family and friends the time and attention they need to keep healthy happy relationships in the pursuit of my truth?

What goals are truly attainable? And which goals should I pull my energy from? I believe time is the most precious commodity humans are given, so I would like to put my ambitions into the things that will have the best outcome for my highest and greatest good. I am human and do not know what the future will bring, but I do know what I would like my future to look like. Goals, dreams and aspirations are good to have right?!

My husband is not on board with my hobby farm dreams unless he is guaranteed not to have to do any of the work. I understand this because these are not his dreams, they are mine, and it would not be fair to push them on to him and take up his time that is also his commodity to do with as he pleases. He still loves me, encourages me, and supports me in pursuit of my goals, and that’s what matters. I also realize I cannot achieve these goals alone.

Do I take the dreams and goals I can accomplish by myself and run with them? Do I then sacrifice the rest of my goals to the boulevard of broken dreams where what if’s live forever? Or… do I get to work recruiting the help I need? Did you know I hate to ask for help? Insert exasperated sign here. The self-imposed drama I tell you! Stacy just reminded me that the more I believe my dreams will come true the more likely they will be manifested! I know she is right. I must insist and persist, if I want them to exist!

I believe in manifestation, yet lately I feel that maybe I am trying to manifest too much??? Is that even possible to have too many dreams? I call BS on that thought. We are only on this planet for a short time, there is only so much we can accomplish that’s why what we chose to spend our time doing should be purposeful and meaningful. I believe we should pursue the things that bring us joy, contentment, and purpose that will fill our souls with resolve to persevere because it is your dream and you must.

To live in my integrity while it feels like I am chasing squirrels I will call on the spirit of my Dogs to see me through to fruition. Dogs are a great representative of dedication to what you love, they are steadfast in what they believe in and that is usually you. They are consistent, persistent, and insistent every day as reliable as the sun. If my dogs can believe in me so wholly and my families support is consistent, why can’t I believe in myself the same way?

These dreams are a way to support myself through living with purpose, to live in integrity with my beliefs feels vital at this point in my life. I believe the things that call to my soul and tug at my feelings, are my callings, they should at the very minimum be pursued until I clearly see that path isn’t for me. To know that I could fail but keep my hopes up that I will not. I see that Billy goat portage in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area is once again a poignant lesson in my life.

Billy goat portage was hard, very difficult for both of the Adventure Sisters, we did not anticipate the physical, and mental challenges that it gave us that day. We had brought so much stuff that we had to travel this difficult path six times to bring all our gear to the next portage. The Billy goat portage path taught me I am capable of doing way more then I think I can. It taught me that by keeping my head down in pursuit of just making it to the end, watching my footing and being careful not to trip up, I made it to the other side just fine. Having to travel that same obstacle six times makes me laugh in the comparison of persistence and dedication most goals and dreams require.

When Stacy and I got to the five-star campsite we were exhausted and starving we would spend the next five days nurturing our beaten and battered bodies while basking in the sun and floating in the lake, enjoying each other’s company and eating very well because we carried a ton of food in! It was the most rewarding vacation full of pride in our accomplishments, the teamwork built our trust and proved to us both we could rely on each other when it was difficult.

I have a team around me that will do the same, so I feel I must pursue each one of these squirrely dreams until the sucker really truly gets too far up the tree and away from me. If it does get away I will then know it wasn’t my path, keep going on the journey where the doors open, there is no need to break them down the ones meant for me will be ajar.

So here I go again chasing garden squirrels today too, excuse me while I go start my petunia seeds! I love to play in the dirt in the middle of a Minnesota winter. It brings me joy.

Be consistent, Be persistent, Be insistent ~ Congressman John Lewis

Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in. – Senator Bill Bradley

*Disclaimer ~ the photograph used in this blog I found many years ago on the internet and do not know who to give photo credit to. If by chance it is you I would gladly add your name to the photo that moved my soul.

What will you say to your children who say, “Wait a minute, you knew this was happening and you didn’t do anything about it?” Have you thought about that? I have. You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts. According to NASA 97% of the world’s top climate scientist confirm that there is in FACT Global warming and human actions that can be changed would heal this problem.

I also believe that humans are truly good people trying to do the best they can in the time and space we are given. My Adventure Sister wrote a blog that got me thinking. She put the thought out, implying that God sends only angels into our lives… even the people who act in ways that aren’t so angelic. She asks us to accept that all people in the world have soul contracts with other souls, to act in ways that will lead us to learn, grow, and be better.

This thought hit me hard, as I am working on expressing my passion for the environment in a compassionate and loving way. Even though, somedays I feel like an angry environmentalist who thinks human species has lost their ever-loving minds. I care genuinely about being received in a kind, loving and compassionate way, so I can touch as many lives as I possible, to do my part in saving the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, in Minnesota.

Do I need to embrace that this threatening situation might possibly be happening for the greater good? Maybe the threat of losing our beloved Boundary Waters will bring the fine people of Minnesota together to form a bond of unity? Unity that will be powerful enough to stand up to the government officials and corporate interests that threaten the health of our land, and most certainly affect the tourism that supports the livelihood and lifestyle which is the soul of northern Minnesota. Just maybe this situation is an opportunity for us to do the “right thing” and stand up for ourselves and our land? I certainly see this happening all over the world and the United States, uniting against, racism, misogyny and hate.

‘Forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ Luke 23:24. Science says times up because we do know what we do, and we can change. I believe if we act soon, treat the earth with compassion Mother Earth will be benevolent and forgiving of our trespasses. If we nurture and care for the planet she returns the favor. If we treated the earth as a gift from God that it is, we would not be poisoning our soil and waterways with chemicals or pesticides. We would know we are eating the poison. We would not stand by obediently letting corporations systematically poison our water, land and air with more rights and protections, then the people who live in the community. When do we get to say enough is enough?

Politically we are seeing a free for all, public land grabbing for resources all over North America. Coastal communities fearing the consequences of drilling for oil in their beautiful and beloved homelands. Here in Minnesota, public officials are under a great deal of pressure to grant permission to a mineral mining that threatens the beloved Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

This over-seas company with headquarters in the state of Minnesota wants to mine for sulfide-ore copper at the headwaters of the National Park known as The Boundary Waters Canoe area. Environmental studies show, this type of mining means eminent pollution.

Researchers warn that ALL sulfide-ore copper mining produces extremely toxic sulfites that would flow directly into the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area to contaminate the entire 1.1 million acres of pristine water and unspoiled forest.

The Boundary Waters contains twenty percent of all the fresh water in the entire National Forest System! That is a lot of pristine water we are risking for no real gain except a couple jobs.

Sulfide-ore copper mining produces giant waste piles that leach sulfuric acid, heavy metals and sulfates into the environment, proven to pollute groundwater, rivers and lakes. In the history of sulfide mining, pollution has NEVER been avoided.

The scientific environmental studies show that it is not only, IF but WHEN the mine leaches its toxic sulfites into the pristine waters of the Boundary Waters that the ecosystem will be toxic for at least 500 years… so forever.

It is common practice for corporations like these to pollute and loot “our land” getting away with it, with no real consequences. They, simply shrug off any responsibility of environmental cleanup by paying a fine and declaring bankruptcy. Leaving the residence of the now toxic land and tax payers to foot the bill and live with the responsibility of cleanup.

Do you remember Freedom Industries corporation in West Virginia that poisoned the drinking water for over 300,000 people and nine counties in 2014?! I do. The residence of this area still suffer four years later, without drinkable water and multiple heath complaints. All because government officials valued industry over the health of the land which they live.

If Al Roker where to inform us each morning at 7:12am that the condition of air quality has suffered in North America overnight because of environmental fracking waste, and fossil fuel drilling/refineries, chemical spills, pesticides and mining accidents. I believe ‘we the people’ of the US would be far less willing to sacrifice their land, air, water and the health of our loved ones.

Some of the dirtiest fuels and chemicals manufactured are exempt from the outdated Clean Air and Water Act. Our current Congress works to de-regulate environmental protections and grant corporate permissions to violate and pillage, sacred native lands, federal forest, parks, reserves and waters. Areas deemed so precious that they should be in the protective hands of the government in the first place?!… this makes me scratch my head some.

The thought of losing over a million acres of pristine land and water, in an area which has changed my life for the better, makes my blood boil. I am angry, I also understand that anger will not help the situation. What will help are the actions we take to stop this from happening. Using our voices, our will to do good, uniting together to protect what we love will be the only way to make a difference.

So here I am an introverted, angry environmentalist, who just wants to cuddle my dogs, leaping fearlessly out of my comfort zone to do what I can to make a difference. I will voice my opposition loudly and proudly with protective compassion, because I believe that people are good at heart and want to do the right thing.

Let’s unite in love of this truly special place on earth, let’s vow to do anything and everything we can to Save The Boundary Waters of Minnesota. Who’s with me?

Please help me in doing so by signing this petition to Save The Boundary Waters.

The environment is very important to me, it is my passion. We take so much from her, doing something anything to give back and help her out she would appreciate, so will our children and grandchildren. My intention, is to spread awareness of our effects on the planet, whether they are intentional or not we CAN and must, change our direction of unsustainable consumption of its resources.

There is currently controversy surrounding the area called the Iron Range, of Minnesota it is a taconite mining community. Minnesota State officials are currently under pressure to grant a mining permit to Twin Metals Minnesota Mining to mine sulfite-ore copper at The Boundary Waters Canoe Area headwaters and pressure keeps building.

The Taconite/Iron Ore mines employ a great number of families in the area. I grew up on the Iron Range, it’s made up of good hearted regular families like yours. What I aim to do is spread education to the well-intentioned citizens of the area that the proposed Sulfite-ore copper mining is very different.

Sulfite Mining is not the same as the Iron Ore mining culture that they are used too. Sulfide-ore copper mining is much more toxic than Minnesota’s taconite mining. Sulfite-ore copper produces giant waste piles that, when exposed to air and water, leach sulfuric acid, heavy metals and sulfates. Sulfide-ore copper mines pollute groundwater, rivers and lakes. In the history of sulfide mining, pollution has never been avoided.

Hard rock mining, most of which is sulfide mining, contributes to more superfund sites than any other activity. A Superfund site is any land in the United States that has been contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the EPA as a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or the environment.*

Sulfite-Copper mining is dangerous very toxic, waste from this type of mining generates sulfuric acid historically seen to have disastrous consequences in a previous site located in Canada. This type of toxic waste cannot be cleaned up for centuries…CENTURIES! As in 500 years plus… or probably never.

I do not know of any company in the whole wide world to have that kind of money or morals to be responsible for an environmental clean-up that last for centuries. Do you? It is unheard of. That’s what bankruptcy is for… Then you know who gets to foot the bill?! That’s right… Tax payers. Slick trick right?! They get what they want and move on to the next area to ravage.

This is happening and common practice in places all over the US our environment is under attack by money hungry corporations that take no responsibility for their actions. Currently there is talk of opening Federal Land for Resource grabbing as in Fracking Yellow Stone National Park, Grand Canyon, etc.

Our “resources” like clean water and air are what keep us alive. A few years of jobs is not worth the risk of ruining the region for the next 500 years of toxic pollution; ruining the precious wilderness we all hold as a pride in the natural beauty our native home of Minnesota boasts.

There are already many people in the Ely, MN area that are protesting and voicing their avid rejection of the sulfite-ore copper mining proposal. There are also people who are in favor of it, because it will bring jobs to the area. I do understand the need for jobs, I do not understand the need to poison ourselves and the land we love for short term reward.

This ball is rolling right now my friends and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area NEEDS YOU to be its voice! The trees, pristine waters, fish and wild life in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area cannot defend or speak for themselves. We need to take responsibility for our land before someone else takes it from us. If it’s accidental or on purpose if this area is polluted and ravaged by toxic waste, we will have lost one of the last pristine wild areas left in the United States of America.

You may think I am exaggerating but I am not friends. Do your own research and discover for yourself the depth of water pollution in the US, it will frighten and astound you. We are on the verge of water wars because of our misuse of the natural resources we have been blessed with. It is not every day citizens like you and me doing this polluting and pillaging.

We must unite and say enough is enough, this is happening in all states in some area not too far from you, and it’s up to us to be paying attention. We are letting the Fox guard the Hen house, government officials are not doing their jobs, looking the other way of the citizens protesting the impending pollution.

Please help by signing this petition to stop sulfite-ore copper mining from impending devastation in Boundary Waters Canoe Area.